Is a cheesy ad hominem all that you have? To answer your question, my dad was the head engineer on the Manned Maneuvering Unit used by shuttle astronauts during spacewalks. And I got my EE from the University of Maryland, so yes...I am one of those dreaded scientists you all fear. However, the basic principles of rocketry and spaceflight can be understood by anyone capable of reading. Even my 10 year old neice gets it, so you hardly have to be a "Rocket Scientist".

Nor does it qualify me as a virologist, yet I can read the science and understand it just the same. You might want to pull out your high school physics book if you need an explanation of how rockets actually work.

Oh, and as I said, my father was a rocket scientist and I grew up with the principles of aerospace engineering all around me. In fact, when I was a little kid I held the sample scoop that is currently atttached to the Viking II on Mars. So I do know just a little bit more than the average person.

LOL. You do know that just by being online you have access to Google, right? So why ask such silly questions? I notice that you like saying that only a rocket scientist can understand aerospace, but yet still think that you, a non scientist of any type, can refute it. That is called the argument from ignorance fallacy if I am not mistaken?

I never did say I was a rocket scientist. That was something you said trying to set up a straw man argument. What I did indicate was that I have a descent understanding of rocketry in general, and the operations of the space shuttle in particular. Aerospace has been a keen interest of mine since childhood, and I dare say I have picked up quite a bit of knowledge of it over the years. And as of yet I have not seen you refute the assertion that a rocket generates thrust not by pushing against air, but through the explosive ejection of matter. I also posited the mechanism for how the shuttle maneuvers in space. Both of these principles are covered in any BASIC Physics textbook, so its not exactly arcane knowledge only held by Von Braun acolytes. Go ahead and refute these if you like, but dont resort to ad hominem or strawman arguments

As for the Viking II, the Viking program sent 2 orbiters and 2 landers in the 1970s to Mars and conducted the first search for life there (hence the sample scoop).

Anyone can posses the knowledge you propose to KNOW through the reading of books, but that wouldn't qualify them as ROCKET SCIENTISTS nor does it you either.

You indicated that the Viking II program currently exists.

I suggest you employ the use of GOOGLE or read the link I have provided about the Viking II program.

Point to the post where I said I was a rocket scientist please. And as I said, the Viking was one of the projects my dad worked on, as well as Voyager, the Shuttle, the MMU, and the Titan series rockets. You seem very confused, and its pretty funny.

No, I never said it qualifies me as the same, but it defiantly gives me a better background than the average person. Plus, as I have repeatedly stated that any and all assertions that I made are covered in a high school physics text, it is irrelevant. I took high school physics (A- since you asked), so that qualifies me to speak on that. Just because someone isnt a specialist in a field does not mean they cant understand it.

What kind of work did your father do on the Voyager, the Shuttle, the MMU and the Titan series rockets?

Was he employed at NASA?

Once again, if you did a quick Google search you would have found the commonality between all of those projects.
He was a senior aerospace engineer at Martin Marrietta for 38 years, just in case you cant alt-T and google it.